Plastic button



' 1 OCL 25 1948- w. A. zwlEBEL A 2,452,173 PLASTIC BUTTON Filed Julyv 19, 1946 WZZZzz/MA Zza'eeg Patented Oct. 26, 1948 PLASTIC BUTTON.: William=.;A:-.Zwiebel, .Waterbtmyg,` Gonmassignomtof.

.'ihe Patent l Button; .Companyn- Waterways?.

mipplzatien 0f Connettieut'f-.

1; Mya invention relates to,l new; andusefulf; line` provements in buttons; and,.-mone epaisticularly'/to.v

afreenorceditack button. that .is to. be used .espe`vcially on material whichgisthinner than theordi. nary overall denim, suchy assport=c1othes; slacks;. beach; clothes or childrens :playsuitsr- When the ordinary form of tack button' is used. ona.re1ative1y,thn fabricgthefmaterial.about the head of the tack; is very likely to pucker l`and thus be.' unsightly and; interfere 4withy the; sale,- ot the: article.-

One of fthe objects. therefore, `ofthefpresent inventionV is to providaa-buttonsto .befused .withzlr a certain: type offtack soi` that @the 'ffront .gend fot,

thetackiand the lmetalv reenforcement about "the, hub of the button act similar-lieto ,afpuncnfand die, so thatfas the tack is -driven up into .the bore at the button head, it will cleanlyicut thecloth.; Thus,`there are no unsheared `threads or fibers,-

pulling on the cloth surroundingthe tack to cause wrinkles or -puckers .radiating from about thel tack head.

Still another object ,of the invention-is to providea plastic button having a hub and acentral boretherein-together Witha ferrule Aover thefree f end of the hub, theferrule providedwith acentral opening -through vwhich is s to be driven., attack.

preferably having .,a conical shaped point onv its"` freeend.

Still another object of the invention is to prof, vide 1a plastic buttonthat is provided with a reenforced ferrule, which latter has an opening in its closed face. Intathisferruleis to be driven afiuted shank tack fastener, and it is to be noted that the'opening in the ferrule is` of the same diameter as the root diameter vof the tack, so that as theftaQkL-passes through ther-.cloth and cuts into.the walls about theopening of the ferrule, the tack will also cleanly) shear the,bers ofthe cloth so that the cloth will strip back'alohg theshank andthus prevent the Vpuckeringofthe material aroundthe base of the tack.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists in certain new and novel arrangements and combination of parts as Will be hereafter more fully explained and pointed out in the claims.

Referring now to the drawing, showing a preferred embodiment,

Fig. 1 is an enlarged central sectional view of a button as attached to its cloth or carrying medium,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing the several parts of the button and tack as well as a fragmentary portion of the cloth,

Figs; 3 lisfarrienlarged.=see'tional wievvaoffithefera rule,` the'cloth.-andfthestackitoshowlrthe' relative SiZetithieiOpeningain thesferruleand 5th`eftack- Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken, onitlinieifdf Figasis .s art enlargeds bottomipianwviewltothe button.

Referring.; notti4 morei.- partieul'arlxu.` tol A the'y i seva eraLviewsz andy..fo'1.;fthi=.fmpmentteL 2 therer isgshown on an.-ienlargedoscaletaaplastioiibutton I. ,having a vdepending hub 12E wiiiohuis:sii'ghtlyi reduced.: as .at il.'y s Therefisalsoithe central bor-ett: whichY .extends,athroughatheahub Ziupuinto the@ body of the button l. 1 2

As :the inventiommayapossibiybeib'ettr `.understoodiifndimensionsJareasetfiouti the` triiiicaiione's1 are:,enumeratednfbutaitiisrtoi:benunderstoodfthatf thesefare proportional-.land df buttons-of fgreater" size Lare made, tha/dimensionsusetoutiwould'have to.be `chalslgedeibut .'keepingrtheerelativelyi. same proportions;.v- ,Y

In ther present instancefathev diameter.' ofifthe borei 4 :is sixty-eight ioneethousandths.f.@06824)` off an.-inch;` After theobuttons-are .arnolde.'dftlfi'erelfis-v fitted onv thefreducedportionfofatheehub 2 a--smali` metal.. ferruieiV 5mi-tha a.centraliyrlocatediopeni-ng# 6 in the bottomxiaoe 1 ithereofii Asemay lbe seen-rin Eig-r1; thefferrulefil fistto -be iti-.ted` L.tightly poi/1er. thetre ducedcaortionaoir-.thehub 2 /so `tlmrtfxthe side -,\vallslfio.f thetierrule Simi-'l1 be fiushAv-ith the outerawallsiofithe hub2" Therferrule 5:seryesafdoublefunctionsv rst; it reeniorcesthe huhu torprevent.ianyrtendncylot the hub 2 fromasplittingrwhen 1anf-oversiz1tack fastener iszdriven updntorthe :m1101212 fEyenrshuld the hub1x2 frac-tureg. the ferruleesiiwiilfistilliihold thefracturedrparts ofQthe hub 2 seeurelyfiripiaee and thus notidestitoy therusefulnessof--vthe fiouttniy The L second '-iunotioniis to .".prieventthe:l clothf=from puliingorepuckering during itheiattaohinfg @peras tifOrlxi.. v.

Now I make the opening lzwiltifiai'diameter'ofi` fifty-two t-housandths (.0512") of an inch, which, it will be noticed, is less than .the diameter of the bore 4 in the plastic button.

I then utilize a tack fastener 8 having a head 9 and a shank I0, on which shank is formed the yspiral grooves H, While the end of the tack may be conically pointed as at l 2.

The tack shank is made from wire having a diameter of six hundred twenty-five thousandths (.0625) of an inch. and after the utes are formed the outside diameter of the tack shank is seventy-four thousandths (.0'74") of an inch, while the root diameter of the tack` shank at the bottom of the utes is fifty-two thousandths (1152") of an inch; or, in other words, the same diameter as the diameter of the opening in the bottom face 'I of the ferrule 5.

Thus the shank I0 of the tack fastener 8 acts as a punch and the Walls about the opening E of fthe ferrule 5 act as a die. In this case, however, the shank? I ll being provided with flutes'` I I, v-the root diameter is equal to the diameter of the opening 6; while the outside diameter of the tack 8 is greater than the diameter of the opening 6. Thus, the top edges of the flutes I I cut into the metal side walls surrounding the opening 6. Thus, the flutes I I cut grooves in the walls of. the metal about the opening 6 as deep as'the height of the l If plastic materials were less brittle, it would be,v possible to make -the;diameter of the bore d as small as the root diameter of the tack 8; but ther thermostatic plastics which have the physical characteristicsnecessary for buttons to befused on washable garments 1ere? too=brittle, so that the diameter vothe, bore ,4 of the button i has to be slightly greater than the. diameterof the opening S-in the ferrule 5, but;less than.` the outside dia meter of the shank I0.

Thus, it might be said that .the bore 4 and the opening .6; in the ferrule 5.1provide ka structure-'o two dierent diameters. The diameter ofthe bore linthe button Iv provides the'holding strength necessaryforsecuring the button I to the garment, .but is largeenoug-h sothat the button I will not break during the attaching operation; :whereas the diameter. oflthe hole (i in the ierrule 5 whichforms the entrance `to the bore '4 is small enough tok prevent adistortion of the threads and permits a clean cutting'ofithethreads so they are to thus pucker or distortv the fabric i3. v c

- I have found -that buttons formed as above set forth, together with a uted shank tackfastener will easily withstand a pulling test of about one hundred pounds (100,. lbs.)l before the tack will be separated iromthe head, which is more than suicient where buttons lare tobe used on, light materials, such-asfor playsuits, etc.-

Again, byusingthe ferrule-eas heretofore mentioned,;theprobability .of the hub 2 splitting during the entrance ,of the tack 8 duringthe attaching operation is reduced to a minimum;y and, the button I may beused on a relatively thin cloth Without any fearof unsightly Wrinkles orlpuckers, which is practically impossible form of tack button:

with the ordinary.

It will also be understood that the buttons' might be other than round, just so the ferrule is fitted in the proper place and the diameter of the opening in the ferrule is the same as the root diameter of the tack, so that a cutting action is presented when the tack is forced into the reduced opening.

Fromthe" foregoing it'will be seen that I have provided a reenforced plastic button, wherein the tack rather than distorting the threads of the garment during an attaching operation will cut `the bore, which is the cause of puckering when buttons are attached to garments made of rela tively light material.

y Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patl. A plastic button having a hub, said hub provided with a bore, a' ferrule fitted over the free end of the hub, provided with an opening in its closed face, and the said opening in the ierrule registering with `the bore, together with a fluted tack and the root diameter of the iiuted tack be ing substantially the same as the diameter of the opening in the ferrule.

2. A plastic button having a hub, said hub pro-- vided with a bore, a ferrule tted over the free end of the hub, provided with an opening in its closed face, and the said opening in the ierrule registering with the bore, together with a uted tack and the root diameter of the luted tack being substantially the same as the diameter of the opening `in the ierrule and less than the diameter of the bore in thehub.

3. A plastic button having a hub, said hub pro vided with a bore, a fel-rule tted over the free end ci the hub, said ferrule provided with an opening in its closed face registering with the bore, the diameter of the opening in the errule being less than the diameter of the bore, together with a uted tack whose root diameter is substantially that of vthe diameter of the opening in the ferrule but less than the diameter of the bore in the hub, whereby the material to which the button is to be attached will be supported and cleanly cut when'the tack is driven into the cloth and up into the bore during an attaching operaA tion,

WILLIAM A. ZWIEBEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iile oi thispatent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,968,221l Reiter July 31, 1934 2,254,417 Corley Sept. 2, 1941 2,299,494 Purinton f Oct. 20, 1942 

